CP eyes new $400-million rail tunnel to Detroit

Canadian Pacific Railway
has been quietly advancing plans for a new $400-million rail tunnel under the
Detroit River and will probably start digging two years from now, the Canwest
News Service reports. A construction permit for the tunnel has already been
issued in the U.S., sources said, but the environmental assessment process has
just begun on the Canadian side and will take up to 18 months.

CP and its partners have
been quietly lining up Canadian political support for the rail-only project,
although excavation probably won't start for at least two years, sources
indicate. The number of construction jobs alone to be created by the project
will run into "thousands," according to one.